The bones were collected in 1977 by Dr. Ewan Fordyce, a
paleontologist from the University of Otago, New Zealand. In 2009 and
2011, Dr. Dan Ksepka, North Carolina State University research assistant
professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences and North Carolina
Museum of Natural Sciences colleague Dr. Paul Brinkman traveled to New
Zealand to aid in the reconstruction of the giant penguin fossil.
Researchers dubbed the penguin Kairuku, a Maori word that
loosely translates to "diver who returns with food." Ksepka was
interested in the fossil because its body shape is different from any
previously known penguin, living or extinct. He was also interested in
the diversity of penguin species that lived in what is now New Zealand
during the Oligocene period, approximately 25 million years ago.

According to Ksepka, "The location was great for penguins in terms of
both food and safety. Most of New Zealand was underwater at that time,
leaving isolated, rocky land masses that kept the penguins safe from
potential predators and provided them with a plentiful food supply."

Kairuku was one of at least five different species of
penguin that lived in New Zealand during the same period. The diversity
of species is part of what made the reconstruction difficult, and the
penguin's unique physique added to the difficulty.

"Kairuku was an elegant bird by penguin standards, with a
slender body and long flippers, but short, thick legs and feet," says
Ksepka. "If we had done a reconstruction by extrapolating from the
length of its flippers, it would have stood over 6 feet tall. In
reality, Kairuku was around 4-feet-2 inches tall or so."

The researchers reconstructed Kairuku from two separate
fossils, using the skeleton of an existing king penguin as a model. The
result is a tall bird with an elongated beak and long flippers -- easily
the largest of the five species that were common to the area in that
time period.

New Zealand has a history of producing exceptional fossils that give
important insights into the history of penguins and other marine
creatures. Ksepka hopes that the reconstruction of Kairuku will
give other paleontologists more information about some the other
fossils found in that area as well as add to the knowledge about giant
penguin species. "This species gives us a more complete picture of these
giant penguins generally, and may help us to determine how great their
range was during the Oligocene period."
Ksepka's research was funded by a grant from the National Science
Foundation and support from the University of Otago. Ksepka has a
research appointment at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
The Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences is part of the
College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.